Winter is just around the corner and that means that we will be having more indoor recesses.

I am looking for some different whole group classroom recreational games. There are always the "tried true" ones such as silent seat ball, heads up-seven up, and around the world. Then, of course there is the classic Hangman game. However, I'd like to find something NEW to do with my kids.

What are your favorite "quiet" classroom games that you like to play with your class (and how do you play them? )

that is one of my students' favorites is "Doggie, Doggie, Where's Your Bone?" You have 2 students in front of the room - usually one is sitting while the other is standing. The one sitting closes his eyes with his back to the rest of the class. The one standing takes an eraser (or any other designated object) and hides it with one of the other students in his/her desk. Then the whole class sings, "Doggie, doggie, where's your bone? Somebody's got it in their home." The child in the front of the room with the closed eyes then stands up and turns around. He/She gets 3 guesses concerning the location of the bone. If he/she guesses right, then that person comes up and the original person goes back to his seat. Then the game starts again. If he/she does NOT guess correctly, then the "bone" is shown, and the game begins all over with the same person still having to close his eyes and guessing again.

Another favorite is "Good Morning, Judge." Again 2 kids are chosen to go to the front of the room. One person is the picker while the other person sits, turned around away from the class with eyes closed. The picker chooses someone from the class by pointing (not saying anything aloud), and that person may get up and move around to another location in the room (if desired) and says, "Good morning, Judge" in a totally different voice. Then he/she goes back to his/her seat, the judge opens his eyes, and turns around trying to guess who said the statement.

Mine is silent bird because I use a stuffed bird. But you can use a ball as well. Kids play it two different ways...

1. Find a place in the classroom. Students toss the ball to another. No talking or you are out. (this includes noises and laughing) If it is a bad throw you are out. If you drop it you are out. If you touch it but don't catch it you are out. You can't move off of your spot. You may pivot ONE foot only in any direction. You may not have a hard throw.

2. Rules are the same but students sit on their desk. They can't fall off their desk. No feet on the desk.

The other game is four corners. One child is it and stands in the middle of the room. The other kids choose a corner (n,s,e,w or 1,2,3,4) to stand. The child in the middle calls a corner and all those kids have to sit down. Keep going until there is a winner. Kids have to be quiet or else the one in the middle will know where they are.

All students pretend they are statues at a museum and freeze in any position they'd like. One student is the museum guard. That students walks around the room and tries to find people who are moving, and if he does, they are out and have to go to their seats. They can only move when the guard is no looking. They also can't talk or laugh or they are out. My students make it a point to get silly and make faces behind the guard, but then freeze really quick when he turns around. It is hilarious what some of my students do!!

- We play 'Who's missing?' One student leaves the room. We then pick another student to hide, under a desk, in a closet, or even walk out the other door. Then everyone has to get up and sit in a different spot in the room. When all are seated, we bring in the first student and he/she has to tell us who is missing from the group. Kids love it.

- Another one is 'I Love You Honey'. Real funny for 6th graders. Everyone stands in a large circle with one person as it, in the middle of the circle. His/her job is to try to make everyone laugh, but the only thing he/she could say is 'I love you honey'. Anyone who cracks a smile gets in the circle as well, and tries to make others laugh. The last person to laugh becomes it. You are not allowed to touch them, or say anything else. You have to find a way to say it to get them to laugh.

Eraser Tag Divide class into 2 teams.Pick 2 players at a time, one from each team. Each is assigned an ending corner of room they need to get to while balancing an eraser on their head. Their partner is trying to tag them before they get to the corner. The teacher can call out “Switch” to change who is chasing who at any point during the game. Whoever gets to their corner first without the eraser falling get a point for their team.

We play a game where someone whispers to me a 2 digit number and then the students have to sit quietly and raise their hand to be called on to ask questions about the number. They can only be yes/no questions. "Is it odd?", Is it higher than 50?", "Is the number found when you count by 5's?"...etc. Winner that guesses the number is the next one to choose the number. My second grade loves it. We play it alot at the end of the day if we have 5-10 minutes to fill.

another easy quiet game that is trickier than it sounds
Make a large tic tac toe board on the ground using masking tape.
Easiest thing is divide boys and girls two teams- which ever way they won't confuse teams.. then take turns asking the student to go stand in a square.
NO talking or warning.. you would be so surprised how they miss the options

I have several cards games that my students play in class. They're not totally silent but their quiet...

Apples to Apples - I bought the big box, and we just divide the cards up between tables. If you get the all ages one be sure to sort through and remove the more adult themed cards (anything related to relationships, alcohol, etc.). If you get the junior version you should be safe.

I also have Uno, SET, Phase 10, Blink, Quiddler, XActika, Five Crowns, and just plain old playing cards. I also have two sets of dominoes.

I also have some FraCards that I purchase years ago. They have different fractions on each card. There are several games that can be played: War (largest fraction wins), Make 1 (sort of like Go Fish, but you need the other part of the fraction to create a whole, exp: you have 3/5 you need to "fish" for a 2/5 to Make 1). You can purchase the FraCards from Kaidy Educational Resources.

My favorite game to play with my classes is monkey elephant alligator. Before the game starts, everyone gets into groups of three. Then every group find somewhere in the perimeter of the room to stand. One person stands in the middle, one person stands on the left of the person standing in the middle and one person standing on the right of the person in the middle. Then we do practice rounds when it's their first time only. When I say show me elephant, the person in the middle waves their right arm near the front of their body like an elephant trunk. The people on the left and right make the ears of the elephant. When I say show me monkey, the person on the right makes a high branch by standing up and making a branch with their arms and the person in the middle is the monkey. The person on left makes a low branch by doing the same thing as the person on the right, but kneeling on one knee instead of standing. When I say show me alligator, the people on the sides make the eyes of the alligator with their hands. The person in the middle makes the alligators mouth by clapping their hands like an alligator's mouth. If a group goes too slow, they are out and they sit down until there's one group left. The remaining last group standing wins a prize.

I teach art. Art on a cart at one school. Sometimes waiting on the classroom teacher to come back to class is painful. Sooo... I came up with this game. It even works on 5th graders.

I start it myself. I tell them I'm the voter, and I"m going to cast my vote for the group of students who are the most quiet and studious. .. (Most students are already seated in groups of about 6 per classroom. If not, I create groups) I tell them the way I cast my vote is to simply stand by the group being the quietest. I can also change my vote, and maybe move to another group of students if they become quieter. I end up moving from place to place. If no one is quiet enough, I step away from all groups. They take the hint. After about 5 minutes, I tell them I will be picking one person to take my place as The Voter. But it has to be THE quietest student I can find.

The game continues as above... Again, after a few minutes have The Voter pick a new Voter.

The way I've played Four Corners, there is one student who is "it". They sit somewhere in the middle of the room with their head down and eyes closed, while the rest of the students choose a corner of the room to stand in. Teacher designates the corners 1, 2, 3, or 4 (or letters). Students must tiptoe or walk quietly so the person who is "it" doesn't know where the kids are moving to. Once everyone chooses a corner, they must stay there and cannot change corners. The "it" student then calls out a corner. All students at that corner must sit down. After a signal, students can then choose another corner to move to or stay. The "It" student calls out another corner. All at that corner sit. Game continues until there is only one student who is left standing and that person will be "it".